Muscat: I was invited to the Sony Headquarters in Tokyo as part of the media tour in line with the launch of its new flagship model Sony Xperia XZ2.

I was excited to use and experience the new Xperia XZ2 during the media tour. What captivated me in the first instance is the elegant design of the phone and the colour. The curved edges and the convex design of the back case is a rarity and is achieved with a precision tempering of the glass. The glossy sheen of the phone adds a bling. The tough exterior is built with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 making it sturdy and durable.

On the second day of the media tour, I was walking along a stony trail while it was drizzling and my bad, I slipped and fell to the ground. My heart skipped a beat when the phone from my hand went flying and landed on a huge wet rock with a thud. First thing, I did before getting up was to reach for the phone and I was surprised to notice that there was not even a scratch. Later I learned that the phone is also water resistant and is a certified IP65/IP68. Well, that means you need not panic when some water is splashed onto your phone during rain or while near the sink.

The first thing I checked on the phone is the camera. With 19 MP rear Motion Eye camera, the output of the still photography is remarkable. The picture clarity is good with true colour and contract. An interesting feature is the Autofocus Burst, which allows you to capture sharp motion shots without blur. A few of the pictures captured with the Sony Xperia XZ2 will speak for itself.

Sony is taking motion picture experience to an all-new level by introducing for the first time in the world with 4K HDRmovie recording on a smartphone. The philosophy behind this is to capture the details of the scene as precise as seen with the naked eye. The 4K HDR gives more colour, more contrast and more detail to the videos. With HDR function, night scenes are vibrant, illuminations are not washed out and details are sharp. It also has upped the super slow motion video recording with 960 frames per second in Full HD.

Taking gaming experience to an all-new level, Xperia XZ2 has incorporated a new haptic experience. Now that is hard to explain, you should experience to know how it feels. Sony has introduced Dynamic Vibration System, which, analyses audio data and lets you feel the audio through your hands. Well, it is not the whole phone vibrating to the audio, rather you could feel the sound waves as it is produced from a different angle with different parts of your palm enriching your movie viewing or gaming experience. You can also choose the level of vibrations from ‘mild’, ‘normal’ and ‘powerful’ or completely disable by selecting it from the volume button. The Dynamic Vibration System is a fun feature for gaming as it gives you a feel of being in the game.

One of the interesting pre-installed apps on the phone is Sony’s3D Creator,which allows you to scan your face or any object and create a 3D avatar.

Xperia XZ2 also has the loudest speaker with S-Force Front Surround front-facing stereo speakers. Going over some quick check on the specs of the phone, it is 5.7-inch Full HD+ display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 hardware, 4 GB ram, 64 GB storage and 3180 mAh battery. The battery life is good lasting for the whole day while connected to the Wi-Fi and various applications running.

The phone is available in elegant colours, liquid silver, liquid black, deep green and ash pink. Xperia XZ2 is also available in a compact version.